Model Armour

Chris Smith gives us his take on this regular title from Tankograd...

Militärfahrzeug 1-2010

Publisher: Tankograd

Price: £9.99

Softcover; A4, 64 pages

Supplier: Bookworld

Bundeswehr: German ATF Dingo 2 Protected Vehicle

U.S. Army: 172nd Infantry Brigade Blackhawk

Wehrmacht: Panzer Parade

French Army: French Foreign Legion Vehicles in Algeria

Bundeswehr: Bundeswehr Dummy Tanks

Exercises: US Marines on Exercise - Bold Guard 82

Bundeswehr: German Enok II Protected Vehicle

Wehrmacht: Citroen Traction Avant in Wehrmacht Service

Units: Franco-German Brigade

Engineer Vehicles: New KODIAK armoured engineer vehicle

Leopard International: Swiss Panzer 87 Leopard WE

Shows: DVD 2009 Arms Fair

History: Accident with British Army M44s

 

 

Introduction

Militär Fahrzeug is a quarterly magazine published by Tankograd covering all aspects of military vehicles and their use. Rather than having a theme running through the issue it is a collection of articles. Unlike the “Specials” from Tankograd the articles in this book are only in German with a short summary in English at the end of the book. The captions for the photos are in both languages.

 

 

Contents

In this issue there are three articles covering Bundeswehr vehicles, 2 new ones and 1 from the early days of the Bundeswehr. The first is the ATF Dingo 2 which is a medium mine protected patrol vehicle already in use in Afghanistan. There is a detailed history of the vehicles development and characteristics along with external and interior photos.

 

The second Bundeswehr vehicle is the Enok 2 which is a light armoured patrol vehicle based on a Unimog chassis. The vehicle looks like a Mercedes Wolf from the shape which is not surprising as the Enok 1 was developed to replace the Wolf on active service. The Enok 2 has not yet been accepted into service. Again there is a development history and external and interior photos.

 

The third article is about the use of dummy vehicles used in training in the early days of the Bundeswehr. Because the introduction of the Schützenpanzer HS 30 armoured infantry fighting vehicle took longer than expected left the newly formed Bundeswehr without enough vehicles to test tactics in large scale exercises. The solution was the introduction of a dummy tank similar to those used by the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht before the Second World War. There were two versions, the first resembled a HS30 AIFV complete with dummy turret and the second was used as OpFor and resembled the Soviet T54/55 which at the time was considered to be the main threat. Both versions used a Mercedes Unimog as their base vehicle. The OpFor vehicles were only retired in 1979.Included in the article are several photos of the vehicles in use plus photos and drawings from the technical manuals.

 

A recurring subject in Militär Fahrzeug is the French Foreign Legion in the post war years, this time featuring the 1^st Cavalry Regiment in Algeria. An overview of the Regiments involvement in the war is given accompanied by photos of M8 Armoured Cars, M2 105mm Howitzers, a GMC truck and trailer and a Willys Jeep in French use.

 

The US 172^nd Infantry Brigade is also featured in this issue. The Brigade was formed as part of the latest reforms of the US Army’s structure and is now based around Grafenwöhr in Germany. The article explains the concept behind the Brigades formation and there are photos of the typical vehicles used by the Brigade such as the M1A1 MBT, Bradley IFV and M109A6 Howitzer.

 

The issue’s “Good old times” exercise is Bold Guard 82. Bold Guard took place every four years and its goal was to train Nato troops in amphibious landings and the defence of the exits from the Baltic Sea. In the 1982 exercise an American Carrier Group was involved and amphibious landings were carried out by a US Marines Amphibious Brigade. As such most of the accompanying photos are of US Marines and their vehicles, particularly the LVPT 7 tracked landing vehicles.

The Citreon Traction Avant is covered with a brief history and sixteen photos of this French car in Wehrmacht service. All the photos are well captioned and differences or identification points of different models are pointed out along with units or locations.

 

In the last issue was an article written to commemorate the 20^th anniversary of the German-French Brigade being formed. In that article the initial units of the Brigade were featured this time it’s the units that currently make up the Brigade. There are photos showing the typical equipment used by sub units of the Brigade for example the French VBL patrol vehicle and its German counterpart the Fennek.

 

Two Swiss tanks make an appearance, firstly the Swiss version of the Leopard 2 and secondly the Kodiak. The Panzer 87, as the Swiss call their Leopard 2s, has recently undergone an upgrade program which is explained in the article. The Kodiak is an Armoured Engineering Vehicle based on the Leopard 2 which has been developed by the Swiss in cooperation with Holland and Sweden. By replacing their Leopard 1 based vehicles these countries are trying to simplify their logistics and maintenance chains. The Kodiak can be fitted with a dozer blade or a mining clearing plough. I have to say, it’s a beast.

 

Defence Vehicle Dynamics 2009 was a defence technology show in the UK. There is a selection of photos with either vehicles that have just entered service as the result of Urgent Operational Requests or vehicles that have been developed as the result of experience gained in Iraq and Afghanistan. The technology I find most interesting is a textile armour, shown in the article replacing the bar armour fitted to a CVR(T).

 

Rounding off this issue is a series of photos taken of a rail accident in Germany in the 1960s where a train load of M44 self propelled guns fell off a train into someone’s garden, the regular readers letters page and the Fundstücke, Discoveries which this time is a series of photos of Tauchpanzer IIIs and Panzer IVs parading through a town in south eastern Germany in 1940.

 

 

Conclusion

These quarterly publications are always a mixed bag but they are always interesting. This is going to be more appealing to those with a general interest in military history and technology than someone looking for the definitive article on a specific subject. I find myself reading about subjects I wouldn’t normally consider but that’s part of what I like about these.

My thanks to Justin at Bookworld for the review sample.